· The pie chart in the top right shows the amount of minutes spent each day doing various leisure activities. TV, the most vegetative, makes up 54%, about 2.5 hours, of the Average American's free time. o Data From U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use survey, 2010. o Visual from <http://www.han.co/blog/?p=119>. · The line graph in the bottom right is from the same source as the pie chart, and depicts the time spent of the same activities vs. age demographic, with the age groups over 45 showing a dramatic rise in TV time. · The comic in the top right shows a couple watching a TV ad with the caption "These people are having more fun in 60 seconds [then] we'll have in a lifetime." o comic taken from <http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/commercials.asp>, could not find name of original artist · The picture on the bottom left is from <http://www.brainfitnessforlife.com/brain-health/does-television-rot-your-brain/>, showing brain activity of watching TV to performing simple addition and subtraction. · The small red picture in the center with the ABP lettering is for a program called Ad Block Plus, which is a free to download utility that allows you to block out advertisements on the web, helping to clear the clutter from your leisure time activities online. If only TV had this option.
With growing issues in the world reaching apocalyptic proportions, it is a common practice by many individuals to escape and unwind in the vegetative state that is watching television. It is important to note, however, these individual choices to watch television and be bombarded with television advertisements, is contributing to many of the major issues we are trying to escape from. Television remains one of the strongest avenues for advertisers to market to consumers and convince them they need to buy in order to feel good about themselves. This consumer culture then drives us to consume more and more cheap goods, throw away the old and buy the new, pollute, consume, and spend even more hours a day sitting in front of the television. If we were to stop watching television all together, we would effectively give ourselves, on average, one-hundred and sixty minutes a day where we could be: · learning a profession/skill/trade · shopping local produce and making home cooked meals · spending bonding time with our family · socialize with our neighbors and friends · take up a sport / get into shape / change our lives · read a book / read a newspaper / read a blog · Do something we truly enjoy · Attend PTA meetings / Town meetings / Research politics · Fix up their house / start or maintain their garden
If Americans worldwide had those 2.5 hours back, they could put it towards political movements, or change something in their lives they have been meaning to change. With such a large amount of our time each day spent on doing nothing and allowing ourselves to be influenced by advertisers, many Americans often use the excuse that they do not have the time at the end of the day to do the things they know they should be doing, such as food shopping for their family so their children won't have to order from fast food chains every day.
Although many people push the idea that fast food is chosen due to its affordability, I can say from personal experience that with cooking a healthy, full meal 5 times a week, I can afford to live off of $2.50 a day, compared to ordering out at least $5 -- $10 a single meal. Time is the true motivation behind the over consumption of fast food.
With the extra time given to the individual, s/he would have the time s/he always needed to start working on that hobby they always wanted too. That hobby could turn into the start of something great, like a career. Many people take their part time hobbies and passions, and turn them into small business start-ups and entrepreneurial careers. According to
The U.S. Small Business Administration (2003) small businesses represent more than 99.7% of all employers and create 60 to 80 %of the new jobs annually. Small businesses are vital to the U.S. economy, employing more than half of all private sector employees. With the bonus 54% leisure time, more of these small time jobs, such as local family owned hardware stores, bakeries, and butcher shops, would be able to boost the economy.
Television Advertisements, a Serious Issue:
I have argued that television is an issue, because it has so many advertisements, which leads to increased consumerism and materialism. Through my research I have discovered several papers and theses that revolve around this hypothesis that television advertisements have an adverse effect on the mental health of children, a strong correlation to parent-child conflicts, a correlation to increased consumption, and that television advertisements lead to an unhealthy self-image or a low self-value. Although I could not get the full reports for many of these articles, I was able to get full versions of two articles that do well to support the claims, and are supported in turn by the abstracts of the other articles.
The first article is a study which was done to test the hypothesis that television viewing increased obesity rates in children. The trials were done to two socio-demographically and scholastically matched public elementary schools in San Jose, California, where one group was given a 6 month intervention course to decrease television and video game usage, and was tested against a control group of students. After the 6 months, the children's BMI and body measurements were taken in order to determine obesity. The results from this test concluded that reducing the television usage of children would increase their health.
The second article was a collection of research from studies, compiled by the University of Amsterdam on the effects of television on parent-child relationships, materialism, and unhappiness. The studies considered included 8 studies on materialism, 11 studies on parent-child conflict, and a multitude of studies which were done in testing the hypothesis that advertisements cause a decreased happiness in the audience. The results of this review of studies concluded that there was a correlation between advertisements and materialism and parent-child conflict, but little direct correlation between unhappiness and advertisements, concluding that the area required additional research.
From these studies I have formed the argument that television is a sustainability issue, and needs to be turned off.
Problems with this Idea:
Unfortunately, there is no guaranteeing that if Americans manage to shake their television addiction, the extra 54% free time would not be "wasted" away on the more frivolous activities. There is nothing stopping an individual from taking that 2.5 hours and playing video games, going to the mall, watching movies at the local theater, or surfing the web. But although these activities are not directly seen as "productive", they are still more engaging and beneficial than watching television (with the exception of the mall). Playing video games, while seen as detrimental for being a leisure activity that could potentially promote violence, is classically seen as antisocial and sedimentary, and in the extreme situations deadly, could also be seed as engaging, mentally stimulating, social, and active, all depending on which games the individual chooses to play, but that is a separate issue. As with going to the movies, it is important to consider the value of having this leisure time in the context of mental health. When drawing the line between films and television, the major discrepancy can be seen in the constant stream of content and story presented in films, compared to the constantly interrupted (by commercials), short, broken up, and discontinuous noise from television. It is easy to assume that following along for a 2 hour story line is more mentally engaging then watching a 2 minute news clip, a 30 minute sitcom, or a 30 second commercial, in much the same way as reading a book is more stimulating then skimming the headlines of a newspaper.
As for the consumer culture, it is my hopes that with such a major source of advertisements cut off from our everyday lives, we would not be as compelled to go out and purchase things just to have them, and then throw them away once a week has gone by and the next "must have" item comes out. Although it is not a perfect fix, the nationwide effect from a social movement stopping television, would be one thing we could do to curb our materialistic compulsions.
Perhaps the largest problem, however, with this idea, is how deeply rooted television is in the American families lives. When I was growing up, my parents tried time and time again to get me to stop watching so much television, to read books instead, or to go outside and play. Yet I was convinced that the sole source of entertainment available to me was television; I could think of nothing else. It was not until later in life when I realized I was spending half my life watching television, my family owned more TV's then we had people, and that if I was quite honest with myself, the shows I was watcher were just awful. Still, it was another few years after this before I had stopped watching television all together. The obsession with television is maddening, and is perhaps an impossible barrier to this proposed solution.
Potential rationalizations for still watching television include: · It is how I learn the news o With the introduction of the internet, however, more reliable and varied sources of information are a heartbeat away, and with the growing corruption and censorship being exposed by the major news organizations, how can you be sure what you are told on television is correct? Well, by checking their facts online for one. Why not just skip the middle man? Internet is available at local libraries in the majority of the United States. · I need some down time o Out of all the potential activities for leisure, television is the most detrimental and least engaging. It does not require too much more energy to read a novel or play a board game with your family. Picking up a sport or other physical activity as a hobby, while taking energy initially, is known to provide you with a healthier life style and provide additional energy to get you through the day. · Well... there are educational programs on TV as well o many of these educational programs can be seen in online/on DVD documentaries, read about in books and on blogs, or learned yourself through educational activities that can be found on a multitude of websites. Are you fascinated by nature and can't get enough of Discovery channel(R)? Any issue of National Geographic has as much if not more information provided. Many of Discovery's(R) shows can be bought on DVD, avoiding the annoying advertisements. Additionally, any information covered by channels like Discovery (R) can be obtained through an online search. o It is only my personal opinion; however I must insist that the amount of "educational" television is dropping dramatically.
Sources:
American Time Use Survey Summary, an Economic News Release, performed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the US Department of Labor, 2010. Source
The Effects of Television Advertising on Materialism, Parent-Child Conflict, and Unhappiness: A Review of Research, by Moniek Buijzen, Pattie M. Valkenburg of Amsterdam School of Communications Research ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, for Applied Developmental Psychology, 2003.Source
Reducing Children's Television Viewing to Prevent Obesity: A Randomized Control Trial, by Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH, through the American Medical Association, 1999. Source
For some reason the wiki decided to undo all the formatting that made this not just a solid wall of text. Here is the .doc version of the wiki post.
· The pie chart in the top right shows the amount of minutes spent each day doing various leisure activities. TV, the most vegetative, makes up 54%, about 2.5 hours, of the Average American's free time.
o Data From U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use survey, 2010.
o Visual from <http://www.han.co/blog/?p=119>.
· The line graph in the bottom right is from the same source as the pie chart, and depicts the time spent of the same activities vs. age demographic, with the age groups over 45 showing a dramatic rise in TV time.
· The comic in the top right shows a couple watching a TV ad with the caption "These people are having more fun in 60 seconds [then] we'll have in a lifetime."
o comic taken from <http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/commercials.asp>, could not find name of original artist
· The picture on the bottom left is from <http://www.brainfitnessforlife.com/brain-health/does-television-rot-your-brain/>, showing brain activity of watching TV to performing simple addition and subtraction.
· The small red picture in the center with the ABP lettering is for a program called Ad Block Plus, which is a free to download utility that allows you to block out advertisements on the web, helping to clear the clutter from your leisure time activities online. If only TV had this option.
With growing issues in the world reaching apocalyptic proportions, it is a common practice by many individuals to escape and unwind in the vegetative state that is watching television. It is important to note, however, these individual choices to watch television and be bombarded with television advertisements, is contributing to many of the major issues we are trying to escape from. Television remains one of the strongest avenues for advertisers to market to consumers and convince them they need to buy in order to feel good about themselves. This consumer culture then drives us to consume more and more cheap goods, throw away the old and buy the new, pollute, consume, and spend even more hours a day sitting in front of the television. If we were to stop watching television all together, we would effectively give ourselves, on average, one-hundred and sixty minutes a day where we could be:
· learning a profession/skill/trade
· shopping local produce and making home cooked meals
· spending bonding time with our family
· socialize with our neighbors and friends
· take up a sport / get into shape / change our lives
· read a book / read a newspaper / read a blog
· Do something we truly enjoy
· Attend PTA meetings / Town meetings / Research politics
· Fix up their house / start or maintain their garden
If Americans worldwide had those 2.5 hours back, they could put it towards political movements, or change something in their lives they have been meaning to change. With such a large amount of our time each day spent on doing nothing and allowing ourselves to be influenced by advertisers, many Americans often use the excuse that they do not have the time at the end of the day to do the things they know they should be doing, such as food shopping for their family so their children won't have to order from fast food chains every day.
Although many people push the idea that fast food is chosen due to its affordability, I can say from personal experience that with cooking a healthy, full meal 5 times a week, I can afford to live off of $2.50 a day, compared to ordering out at least $5 -- $10 a single meal. Time is the true motivation behind the over consumption of fast food.
With the extra time given to the individual, s/he would have the time s/he always needed to start working on that hobby they always wanted too. That hobby could turn into the start of something great, like a career. Many people take their part time hobbies and passions, and turn them into small business start-ups and entrepreneurial careers. According to
The U.S. Small Business Administration (2003) small businesses represent more than 99.7% of all employers and create 60 to 80 %of the new jobs annually. Small businesses are vital to the U.S. economy, employing more than half of all private sector employees. With the bonus 54% leisure time, more of these small time jobs, such as local family owned hardware stores, bakeries, and butcher shops, would be able to boost the economy.
Television Advertisements, a Serious Issue:
I have argued that television is an issue, because it has so many advertisements, which leads to increased consumerism and materialism. Through my research I have discovered several papers and theses that revolve around this hypothesis that television advertisements have an adverse effect on the mental health of children, a strong correlation to parent-child conflicts, a correlation to increased consumption, and that television advertisements lead to an unhealthy self-image or a low self-value. Although I could not get the full reports for many of these articles, I was able to get full versions of two articles that do well to support the claims, and are supported in turn by the abstracts of the other articles.
The first article is a study which was done to test the hypothesis that television viewing increased obesity rates in children. The trials were done to two socio-demographically and scholastically matched public elementary schools in San Jose, California, where one group was given a 6 month intervention course to decrease television and video game usage, and was tested against a control group of students. After the 6 months, the children's BMI and body measurements were taken in order to determine obesity. The results from this test concluded that reducing the television usage of children would increase their health.
The second article was a collection of research from studies, compiled by the University of Amsterdam on the effects of television on parent-child relationships, materialism, and unhappiness. The studies considered included 8 studies on materialism, 11 studies on parent-child conflict, and a multitude of studies which were done in testing the hypothesis that advertisements cause a decreased happiness in the audience. The results of this review of studies concluded that there was a correlation between advertisements and materialism and parent-child conflict, but little direct correlation between unhappiness and advertisements, concluding that the area required additional research.
From these studies I have formed the argument that television is a sustainability issue, and needs to be turned off.
Problems with this Idea:
Unfortunately, there is no guaranteeing that if Americans manage to shake their television addiction, the extra 54% free time would not be "wasted" away on the more frivolous activities. There is nothing stopping an individual from taking that 2.5 hours and playing video games, going to the mall, watching movies at the local theater, or surfing the web. But although these activities are not directly seen as "productive", they are still more engaging and beneficial than watching television (with the exception of the mall). Playing video games, while seen as detrimental for being a leisure activity that could potentially promote violence, is classically seen as antisocial and sedimentary, and in the extreme situations deadly, could also be seed as engaging, mentally stimulating, social, and active, all depending on which games the individual chooses to play, but that is a separate issue. As with going to the movies, it is important to consider the value of having this leisure time in the context of mental health. When drawing the line between films and television, the major discrepancy can be seen in the constant stream of content and story presented in films, compared to the constantly interrupted (by commercials), short, broken up, and discontinuous noise from television. It is easy to assume that following along for a 2 hour story line is more mentally engaging then watching a 2 minute news clip, a 30 minute sitcom, or a 30 second commercial, in much the same way as reading a book is more stimulating then skimming the headlines of a newspaper.
As for the consumer culture, it is my hopes that with such a major source of advertisements cut off from our everyday lives, we would not be as compelled to go out and purchase things just to have them, and then throw them away once a week has gone by and the next "must have" item comes out. Although it is not a perfect fix, the nationwide effect from a social movement stopping television, would be one thing we could do to curb our materialistic compulsions.
Perhaps the largest problem, however, with this idea, is how deeply rooted television is in the American families lives. When I was growing up, my parents tried time and time again to get me to stop watching so much television, to read books instead, or to go outside and play. Yet I was convinced that the sole source of entertainment available to me was television; I could think of nothing else. It was not until later in life when I realized I was spending half my life watching television, my family owned more TV's then we had people, and that if I was quite honest with myself, the shows I was watcher were just awful. Still, it was another few years after this before I had stopped watching television all together. The obsession with television is maddening, and is perhaps an impossible barrier to this proposed solution.
Potential rationalizations for still watching television include:
· It is how I learn the news
o With the introduction of the internet, however, more reliable and varied sources of information are a heartbeat away, and with the growing corruption and censorship being exposed by the major news organizations, how can you be sure what you are told on television is correct? Well, by checking their facts online for one. Why not just skip the middle man? Internet is available at local libraries in the majority of the United States.
· I need some down time
o Out of all the potential activities for leisure, television is the most detrimental and least engaging. It does not require too much more energy to read a novel or play a board game with your family. Picking up a sport or other physical activity as a hobby, while taking energy initially, is known to provide you with a healthier life style and provide additional energy to get you through the day.
· Well... there are educational programs on TV as well
o many of these educational programs can be seen in online/on DVD documentaries, read about in books and on blogs, or learned yourself through educational activities that can be found on a multitude of websites. Are you fascinated by nature and can't get enough of Discovery channel(R)? Any issue of National Geographic has as much if not more information provided. Many of Discovery's(R) shows can be bought on DVD, avoiding the annoying advertisements. Additionally, any information covered by channels like Discovery (R) can be obtained through an online search.
o It is only my personal opinion; however I must insist that the amount of "educational" television is dropping dramatically.
Sources:
American Time Use Survey Summary, an Economic News Release, performed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the US Department of Labor, 2010. Source
The Effects of Television Advertising on Materialism, Parent-Child Conflict, and Unhappiness: A Review of Research, by Moniek Buijzen, Pattie M. Valkenburg of Amsterdam School of Communications Research ASCoR, University of Amsterdam, for Applied Developmental Psychology, 2003.Source
Reducing Children's Television Viewing to Prevent Obesity: A Randomized Control Trial, by Thomas N. Robinson, MD, MPH, through the American Medical Association, 1999. Source
Picture Sources:
Commercials Cartoons and Comics, CSL Cartoonstock, <http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/commercials.asp>.
Does Television Rot Your Brain?, by Michael Rucker, Brain Fitness of Life, April 2010, <http://www.brainfitnessforlife.com/brain-health/does-television-rot-your-brain/>.
How an Average American Spends His Time, by Chris, Chris's Blog, June 2010, <http://www.han.co/blog/?p=119>.